Hey guys, I was quoted $750 to have both my front axle seals and my U joint replaced because they are both leaking. I'm thinking of doing this project myself because I found the parts for around $100. I was watching videos on youtube and I searched the forum and I only found the ones for the rear axle are they the same from front to back? The axles are dana 35's

 

Your front axle is a dana 30. There are tons of videos of how to do it, but the reason it's so expensive from the shop is because it is a LOT of work. And even after you get all the way there you may discover, as I did, that the differential carrier won't come out without a diff spreader.

By "my u joint is leaking" do you mean the pinion seal?

Is there diff fluid coming out of both front axle tubes?

 

Yeah the pinion seal is leaking, for my axle seal is that an inner axle seal leak? The differential fluid is coming out onto the knuckle.

 

oh yeah those seals are bad.

Honestly if you can spare the $750, that's not unreasonable especially if they warranty their work. You can bust the brand new seals inserting the axle shafts if you're not careful, making you redo the entire job again.

 

The pinion (bearing's & seal), is where the drive shaft goes into a differential. That leaking is a whole different story.

I might check some other shops for the Ujoints and axle seals. I could do the job in less than a day without a shop.....It IS a bit of a job. You need some skills and tools, or someone helping you that does.

It aint rocket science, maybe you have a mobile mechanic in your area that would do it for a couple bills. You could help and learn.

 

I'll ask around for prices and look up more videos and see if i can do it myself, is the seal that's leaking the inner seal? From the few video's I've watched they were all fixing the inner seal.

 

$700 to replace $30 worth of seals is BS.

Find a buddy to help you.

 

Yea. The seals on your fronts are in at the differential. The tubes are, (should be) dry out to the U joints. That's why you need to "pull the pumpkin", (remove the differential carrier) or what ever it's called. Pumpkin works. With the axles pulled you remove that to access the seals from the inside of the diff. housing. None of this is all that easy. I press my own U Joints, but you can take the axles to a shop and they can do that for not too much. $25-45? The pumpkin is heavy and doesn't come out or go back easy. Knocking the old seals out, into the Diff housing with a long pipe or bar is not so tough. Driving/pressing the new seals in is a bit of an art. Doable but tricky. Good news is you pretty much know when you botched it, so you can go buy a new seal and try again. Then like wizard points out, it's easy to muck your new seal putting the axle back in. Cleaning the tube first cuts down on the chance of "dozing" a bunch of crud at the seal with the end of the axle as you push it in.

A good job to just find some local guy. Ask some local auto parts stores if they know of a mobile mechanic?

 

Book time to replace front axle seals is around 4.3 hours. add another .5 to R&R the u joint and you are already at nearly $500 in labor. i figure they are probably charging 20-30 pr seal and probably about 45 for the u joint. also figure the cost for new gear lube and gasket(or sealant) ADD tax and shop/EPA charges you are sitting pretty close to $700.it's certainly not an unfair or even unbelievable price.Also you are supposed to use a SST which is basically a spreader that evenly pushes both seals in at the same time, Without that it's a pain. yea its a bit of an investment but it's not a fun job to do if you aren't working in a garage on a somewhat regular basis. And without an Air compressor and a Torch it can get extremely aggravating. but rewarding if you complete it successfully

on a side note This would also be the time to replace the ball joints if there is even a little bit of play in them.

 

Good advice on the ball joints.

 

And the hubs and axle shaft ujoints.

 

U-Joints around $10 each. Seals are close to 1/2 that. No new gasket, just RTV, couple of jugs gear oil at $4 each. Around $50. A full day of work at $25/hr, $250. It's not a full day of work, if the U Joints go in OK.

I'd check to see if there is a mobile mechanic in your area.

 

Don't bother with cleaning the tube, that's a lot of work. Make long paper tubes by taping together 8.5"x11" sheets of paper. Roll them up tight, then insert into axle tube. Let them expand in the tube and now you have clean liners while you insert your axle shaft. Lube up the shaft splines with some bearing grease and with a little patience you've got your shafts in without bunging up the seals!

Then you can just pull out the paper liners by ripping a strip of it in a spiral pattern until it's all out.

 

Thanks for the respondes! I already had the ball joints done on the jeep 2 weeks ago. So when I pull off the differential cover I don't need a new gasket it is just sealed with RTV?
So in a step by step walk threw it would be
1. Removing the brake and wheel bearing
2. cracking open the pumpkin letting the fluid drain
3. taking out the gears ( Do I need to worry about gear back lash?)
4. Removing the Axles then taking out the seal
5. Replace the seal and then put it all back together?

 

Whoever did the ball joints 2 weeks ago most likely damaged the seals when reinserting the axle shafts.